Why Penguins?

“Some people have told me they don’t think a fat penguin really embodies the grace of Linux, which just tells me they have never seen a angry penguin charging at them in excess of 100mph. They’d be a lot more careful about what they say if they had.”

— Linus Torvalds

[update]

Here is a more interesting version of why the Linux mascot is a penguin:

The story goes something like this:

Linus Torvalds, the creator of the Linux Kernel, was visiting his friend Andrew Tridgell, the creator of the Samba suite. They were walking through the Zoo in Canberra when, without warning, a huge flock of vampire attack penguins dove out of the sky and tried to carry Linus away. Fortunately, Andrew had an umbrella. Still, one of the birds was able to nip Linus’ hand with its fanged beak. Rumor has it that on moonlit nights Linus still runs out into the darkness and jumps, stark naked, into icy water. Of course, he’s Finnish and may always have done this. In any case, this is why the Penguin is the Linux Mascot.